<p style="font-weight: 400;">The Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) have developed a new variety of wheat, Aestivum, which matures in 110 days and is resistant to most races of leaf and stem rust.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“This wheat variety called MACS 6478 and developed by scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has doubled the crop yield for farmers in Karanjkhop, a village in Maharashtra,” said an official press release by the Ministry of Science and Technology.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The initial test of Aestivum wheat was conducted by 10 farmers of the village in Koregaon tehsil of Satara district in Maharashtra. They were able to produce 45-60 quintals per hectare with the new variety, whereas the average yield is in the 25-30 quintal per hectare range with Lok 1, HD 2189 and other old varieties.</p>
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The 10 farmers have cultivated this variety on 14 acres of land. They have planned to establish a company for further seed production and other agricultural produce.</p>
"We needed one spark to motivate us and that is provided by ARI wheat variety MACS 6478. Now, we will never look back." Ramesh Jadhav, a farmer said.
The research paper on this variety has been published in ‘International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences.’
<p style="font-weight: 400;">“The amber colored medium sized grain contains 14% protein, 44.1 ppm zinc and 42.8 ppm iron which is higher than other cultivated varieties,” the press release said.</p>
Farmers of Karanjkhop have planned to establish a company for further seed production and other agricultural produce.
<p style="font-weight: 400;">The chapati quality of flour of this wheat is excellent, having score of 8.05 with good bread quality scoring 6.93, the release said. The Maharashtra state seed agency for seed multiplication, ‘Mahabeej’ is carrying out certified seed production of MACS 6478 for use by farmers.</p>.
